The Board and
members of the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) have
decided to join the hunger strike about to be embarked upon by the group’s
National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, to force an end to the over
three months old industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU).
Speaking on
phone with News Express this afternoon, Onwubiko disclosed that he has received
assurances from the 250 financial members of HURIWA to join the hunger strike.
“We also expect
some of our over 1,000 Facebook members to join the hunger strike, as well as
our representatives in the United Kingdom, Austria and Germany,” he stated.
Meanwhile, in a
statement signed by Onwubiko and issued from the group’s headquarters in Abuja,
“HURIWA directed all her members world-wide to voluntarily embark on hunger
strike on Tuesday and Wednesday if their individual health conditions permit.”
According to
Onwubiko, “At our board meeting this morning, I briefed them about the
necessity of embarking on a physical but non-violent civil disobedience measure
to call on President Jonathan to take up effective and urgent measures to
reopen public universities and we agreed to urge our members, supporters,
admirers and lovers of Nigeria’s educational system to join us in solidarity by
hunger striking between Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. We also agreed to
serve public notice through this press statement to President Jonathan and the
Education ministry including ASUU about our resolve.
“Our main reason
for this hunger strike is to protest the lackadaisical and near-reckless
approach by both Nigerian government and officials of Academic Staff Union of
Universities to end the four months old strike to enable children of the very
poor Nigerians to return to public universities. We also want ASUU to adopt
peer review mechanism to fish out her members that are perpetually in the
devilish habit of demanding sex-for-marks from students and/or constantly
extorting students through unauthorized sale of poorly written handouts and
lecture papers.”
HURIWA recalled
that ASUU embarked on the industrial action following failure of federal
government to discharge her contractual obligations signed since 2009 to
adequately fund public university system and pay agreed statutory emoluments to
the poor remunerated public university teachers.
The rights
group said in observing the hunger strike action, individual members are to
take measures to ensure that they truly abide by their individual resolution to
go on hunger strike even as the group urged them to consult their medical
doctors before and after commencement.
www.osundefender.org
17th October, 2013
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